What Happened

After years of struggling with infertility, Magon Hoffman became pregnant with her second child. But at her 19-week scan, she received devastating news. Her baby’s brain and skull were not developing and her baby was not going to survive. Magon could either leave the state to get medical care, or carry to term and watch her baby die an agonizing death.

Magon Hoffman needed an abortion, but Oklahoma disagreed, forcing her to flee the state in the middle of a family tragedy. If she had not been able to leave, she would have been forced to remain pregnant — potentially risking her health — without any hope of bringing her baby home.

How the Center is Fighting for the Hoffmans

The Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit on behalf of Magon Hoffman and another Oklahoma plaintiff, both who were denied abortions, as well as two physicians and a reproductive justice organization, seeking to expand abortion access for families facing fatal fetal diagnoses. The lawsuit argues that it is unconstitutional to force women to remain pregnant in these dire situations and that Oklahomans should have the freedom to decide what’s best for themselves and their families.

The lawsuit challenges two Oklahoma abortion bans, including its 1910 “pre-Roe” total abortion ban. In 2023, in a case brought by the Center, the Oklahoma Supreme Court recognized that the state constitution protects the right to life-preserving abortion care. However, people facing fatal fetal diagnoses continue to be denied care in the state, making these difficult moments even more traumatic. Doctors have been forced to turn away their patients as they face up to five years in prison and the loss of their medical license for violating the state’s total abortion ban. That means families in these situations have only two options: travel long distances out of state for care, if they can, or continue pregnancies — only to give birth to a stillborn or a baby that will die soon after birth.